AMHERST – Ironmen and Ironwomen will compete Saturday at the CPF Amherst Powerlifting Club Ironman Classic Pro/am at the Wandlyn Inn.

“There will be bench pressing and deadlift, but no squat, so it’s a little smaller of a meet,” said Nathan Robertson, meet organizer and judge.

There will be about 30 competitors competing at the Ironman Classic.

“We have a couple guest lifters. We have a girl from Red Deer Alberta, Liane Sabourin. She’s a world record holder,” said Robertson.

Sabourin can bench press 400 pounds.

“We also have Greg Conners from Kentville. He’s won the Atlantic Strongman seven times.”

Six lifters from the Amherst Powerlifting Club will also compete at the event, including Paul Fury, who is a world record holder in the bench press and Chelsea Cluett who owns eight national records.

Cluett is from Amherst and took up power lifting in October.

Although she doesn’t look like she weighs much more than 98 pounds, she isn’t a 98-pound weakling.

The 18-year-old entered a competition three weeks after joining the Amherst Powerlifting Club and she squatted 126.5 pounds, bench pressed 88 pounds and deadlifted 182 pounds.

In the last meet she entered she squatted 170.5 pounds, bench pressed 116.5 pounds and deadlifted 201.5 pounds.

She said she likes powerlifting because it’s goal-oriented, plus it helps her feel stronger.

“My upper body feels a lot stronger since I started,” said Cluett.

She trains four nights a week and each training session last for about two or two-and-a-half hours.

She said everybody at the club is really helpful.

“There’s a really good support system here,” she said.

Cluett says the toughest lift is the squat, but there’s no squat at the Wandlyn on Saturday.

Cluett said that without the squat she should be able to put up good numbers in the bench and deadlift.

“I just want to keep improving,” she said.

The next big meet hosted by the Amherst club is the Autumn Armageddon on Oct. 12.

They host several big meets in 2014. On April 5 they they host the Atlantic Canadian Power Challenge, on June 28 they host the National Pro/Am Championships, and then on June 29 they host the Amateur Nationals.